Doctor Demon

"Tell us everything," Jina demanded. Hobin was hesitating but he took a deep breath.

"Six years ago, there was a case in the UK," he began. "I had just gotten my license as a Psychiatrist, one of the youngest doctors to receive the license in the country. Even though I was only 18, I had been working with the police alongside my former Psychiatrist, Doctor Richard Alexander. I used to assist him in cases until one day, he left the country. So I took over his role as the Special Consultant to the police."

"At that time, I had helped them to catch many killers," he went on. "The police didn't like me because I was smarter and more resourceful than them."

Taejoon snorted at that statement. "Are you looking down on us?" He snarled.

"I'm looking down on incompetent idiots such as yourself," Hobin said in a dry tone. "You're only hiding behind your highly competent team."

Taejoon gaped at him and was about to retort but Jiwoon said, "Doctor Ohm, please go on."

"Anyways," Hobin said. "That time, I also had a patient visiting me. Her name was Wang Taehee and she recently lost her mother. Taehee was a few years older than me and she was already burdened with the care of her mother. She did not mind and dedicated her time to her ailing parent but it was also affecting her. You see, Taehee was immensely attached to her role as the caretaker and once her mother died, that role was taken away from her. She felt lost and suffered from grave depression to the point she was blacking out. Her memories were hazy and she fainted at random times. There was nothing wrong with her physically and it was a mental illness."

"I was treating her. She was also getting better at that time and made significant progress. Her fainting spells were also decreasing even though she was not fully healed."

"But the city was on alert," he grimaced. "There was a serial killer on the loose."

Hobin turned to the board and wrote a word.

"The Cleaver," he muttered. "This serial killer was nothing like we have ever encountered. He was almost like a ghost. There were no signs of break-in and his killings were seemingly random. The victims had no connection to each other nor did the serial killer had any preference when it came to killing. He'd kill anyone he wanted; young, old, men, women and kids. But there was one thing he really liked to do. He would always spare the youngest member of the house."

"Every serial killer loves to taunt the police. They leave something behind, a memorabilia of sorts. In the case of the Cleaver, it's one surviving victim. The victim's memories are his greatest triumph because he keeps on haunting them. The killer also left behind the murder weapon, an axe."

Hobin paused and shared a meaningful look with Jina as if he wanted to tell her something in private later on.

"The survivors always told that same story," Hobin continued. "That it was the ghost of their recently deceased relative who killed the victims. It was insane to hear because no fingerprints were left on the axe. The survivors were also confused and scared. Most did not want to testify at all."

The Commissioner cleared his throat, continuing the story from there. "I was summoned to the UK because one of our citizens also died in that incident," he said. "That's when I met Doctor Ohm and we began to work on the case together. The pattern we established was that there were recent deaths in the murder victims' families. The victims were heavily affected by the deaths."

Hobin nodded. "We went in circles, trying to find the murderer. We even exhumed many of the bodies of the deceased relatives of the murder victims. To our shock, the graves were empty."

"What?" Jina gasped. "Empty? The graves were robbed?"

"Strangely, no," Hobin replied. "There were no signs of robbery. It was as if the bodies simply disappeared. But the bodies were almost always fresh and still did not start decomposing."

"The murders were only increasing and the police were blamed. They needed to show progress and make the people believe that they were doing something. Nothing popped up until one day, a caretaker at a graveyard called the police and alerted them of a strange woman who was digging up something from a grave. The police immediately rushed there and found that Taehee was digging around someone's grave."

"She claimed that she was innocent and her mother had told her to dig up the body," Hobin said in a grim tone. "Her mother had visited her and told her that she must dig up the body and cremate it as soon as possible."

Jina frowned. Her mother told her to cremate a body? Her deceased mother…?

Several questions were circling her mind. Her hands were clammy with sweat and she could feel her heart race.

"At first we thought it was the ramblings of a clinically depressed person," Hobin stated. "But the police searched her house and…and they found the corpses of the murder victims' previously deceased relatives. This was damning evidence. The police finally had a suspect and also proof. They were sure that it was Taehee and they arrested her."

"But there were no fingerprints!" Jina pointed out. "The discovery of the corpses don't link her to the murders, right?"

She looked at the Commissioner who shook his head. "The discovery of all the corpses in her apartment was only the first evidence," he sighed. "But Taehee also stole artefacts from the murder victims' homes. We don't know how she did it but we found many of the missing items from the victims' apartment. It was enough to seal her fate and the police had her convicted."

"We tried to stop them," Hobin said in a bitter tone. "I knew that…that she couldn't do it. First of all, Taehee was physically too weak to carry around an axe. She was also suffering from a mild case of dyslexia after her mother's death. There is no way a dyslexic person can cleave another person in a perfectly perpendicular line, that too on the head. It's not possible."

"So the police convicted her?" Jiwoon asked, feeling disgusted. Hobin nodded.

"We tried to stall her conviction or at least turn it into jail time on the basis of her insanity," he gritted. "But the police and public were against it. The jury was influenced by public sentiment. They shouldn't have been receiving any news nor information of the murders as per the law but they were somehow exposed to the public sentiments. This influenced their decision. The judges, too, were pressured into handing out a death sentence. Taehee stood no chance."

There was a long silence following his words. It was Taejoon who spoke up.

"I guess the Cleaver has followed you to this country," he said loudly.

"He did," Hobin replied warily. Jina noticed that his eyes were blank and lost. He was speaking like a monotone robot devoid of all emotions.

"The Cleaver disappeared after that incident," Commissioner Shun told them. "The police felt victorious but that was a ruse."

He took out a paper from his pocket and put it on the table for everyone to see.

"The main reason why I summoned Doctor Ohm to this country is because of this," he said, pointing at the paper. "I received this message a few months ago."

The others, except for Hobin, read the message on the paper. It was written in blood.

"You may seem to live your life well

But in your memories I dwell

-The Cleaver"

"This note was delivered to my doorsteps," the Commissioner revealed. "I knew the Cleaver was still out there because like Doctor Ohm, I didn't believe Wang Taehee was the killer. So I summoned him to this country and we decided to investigate this case in secret. We couldn't find any clues until today."

Jina was staring at Hobin, who had his back to her. He was investigating this in secret and hid it from her?

"We must find this killer," Commissioner Shun went on. "This is only the beginning. Soon, more people will be killed and we will be in a lurch. No matter what happens, we can't let an innocent person die again. The word about this shouldn't go out now. We need to find the murderer and then reveal it to the public. Got it?"

"Got it, sir!" Taejoon exclaimed. "My team and I will work on the case and catch the culprit!"

Shun nodded. "Dismissed!" he declared.

…

Jina was carrying two cups of coffee and headed back to the briefing room which was empty except for Hobin. He was staring at the pictures from the crime scene which were hung on the board.

"Here," she said, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," he muttered and accepted the coffee. He did not drink it but was lost in his thoughts.

"You must have figured it out by now," he finally said. Jina nodded.

"Wang Tahee was also a Seer like me," she concluded.. "She must be distantly related to me."